Strait-jacket.



Patented May I, I900.

arm. uooran.

STBAIT JACKET.

(Application filed. July 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES v IN VENTOR Lfaimss .JZ. jfi o7ae W (2 @001 'flwgafl I V ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. HOOPER, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

STRAlT-JACKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,621, dated May 1, 1900.

Application filed July 24, 1899. Serial No. 725,014. (No model.) I

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be itknown that I,JAMEs MILFORD HooPER, of Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Combined Strait-Jacket and Bed-Sheet, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention is in the nature of a combined strait-jacket and bed-sheet designed for the use of hospitals and asylums where insane, delirious, or unruly patients have to be handled, and it is designed to securely hold such patient or person in a manner to insure immunity from self-injury and to avoid any exposure of the person without in the least interfering with their comfort or well-being.

It consists in the construction of a bedsheet of extra-strong material,with appliances attached thereto to give it the function of a strait-jacket, and attaching devices for securing said sheet to a bedstead, cot, surgical table, or other support, as hereinafter more fully described with reference to the drawings, in which- Figurel is a perspective view of the device applied to a bed and securing a patient. Fig. 2 is an upper side View, and Fig. 3 an under side view, of the device.

In the drawings, A represents the sheet, which is made of a double thickness of canvas, quilted or lined, if desired, and provided with transverse stays and rows of stitching to give it strength to resist the struggles of the patient. This sheet is made of a shape at its outer edges to substantially conform to the ground plan of the bed and has alongits side edges, at close intervals, straps or cords a, which may have snap-hooks, buckles, or any other fastenings which will form a secure and easily attached and detached mode of fastening the same to the bed-rails or which may be passed under the bed and connected together beneath the same. At the upper end of the sheet there is an inturned cut formed into a neck-seat b, which is suitably padded to receive the neck of the patient. Two arm-holes c c are formed through the sheet, through which the patients arms are protruded to the top side of the sheet, where, in substantiallyparallel position to the body, they are manacled with soft-padded cuffs d d, firmly secured to the sheet and provided with straps and buckles d for fastening them about the wrists.

On the under side of the sheet there are two (more or less) body-bands e e, firmly connected to the sheet and provided with buckles, by which they may be strapped around the body of the patient. On' the under side of the sheet and near the bottom of the same there are manacles for the ankles, constructed in the form of soft-padded cuffs f f, which are firmly united to the sheet and provided with straps and buckles f, by which they are secured around the ankles.

At the lower edge of the sheet there is a light and flexible apron B, which is designed to cover the feet or leave them exposed, as may be desired. It will be understood that when the sheet is secured along its sides to the bed-rails it is drawn tensely, and it would uncomfortably bear upon the upturned toes of the patient but for this apron,which makes a protective covering to preserve the proper warmth and keep off insects Without affecting the tension and holding power of the sheet.

Thiscombined strait-jacket and sheet may without any alteration beadjusted to any bed, cot, or surgical table, since it is detachable and in no way a permanent part of the bed or supporting structure. It may also be sterilized, washed, and laundered, like any other piece of bedclothes, and is thus kept in perfect sanitary and hygienic condition. The straps, band, and cuffs may be made either of leather or cotton duck and may be made detachable from the sheet, if desired.

With the device thus described the most frantic efiorts of an unruly patient or maniac are humanely suppressed, and neither any damage can be inflicted by the act of the patient on himself nor by exposure to cold drafts, and so securely and safely is the patient held that no attendant is required, as it is absolutely impossible for the patient to either get free or to injure himself in any Way.

For further security and to prevent the exertion of any great strain upon the wrist-cuffs d d I provide cuffs d d for embracing the upper arm. These cuffs d d are arranged on the outer side of the sheet just below the armholes 0, as shown in the drawings.

I am aware that bed-coverings have been heretofore provided with attaching devices at the edges which were designed to be fastened to the bedstead, so as to prevent children from kicking the covers off. This device, however, has neither the same construction nor function that mine has, for the reason that it has no means for limiting the lateral movement of the bodyin the bed; but, on the contrary, the child'or person is free to roll about unrestrainedly from one side of the bed to the other or to turn over or even get up and get out, if he chooses. It therefore can have none of the functions of a strait-jacket, as in my invention, in which the individual can neither roll from one side of the bed to the other nor turn over nor get out, but is absolutely restrained against all efforts to free himself. This is so not simply by virtue of the fastenin gs along the edge of the sheet that connect it to the bedstead, but also by the anchoring devices along the middle or interior line of the sheet for the body and limbs, by which the middle longitudinal position of the body in the sheet is absolutely fixed beyond the will of the patient. My combined strait-jacket and sheet is of course necessarily tense at all times when in use, and the foot-apron B only has reference in its values to a tense covering which would without said apron severely press down upon the toes, which in my straight-jacket are necessarily turned up.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A combined bed-sheet and strait-jacket,

consisting of a strong cover for the bed hav ing at its edges means for securing the same, and having also in fixed middle or central position tightly-fitting retaining or anchorage devices for the body, for restraining the latter in central longitudinal position in thebed substantially as described.

2. A combined bed-sheet and strait-jacket, consisting of a strong cover for the bed having holes through it for the patients arms with retaining devices on the upper side of the sheet for the arms, and retaining devices on the lower side of the sheet for the body substantially as described.

3. A combined bed-sheet and strait-jacket, consisting of a strong cover for the bed having holes through it for the patients arms with retaining devices on the upper side of the sheet for the arms, and having attached to the under side body-retaining straps and retaining devices for the legs, substantially as described.

4. A combined bed-sheet and strait-jacket, consisting of a strong cover for the bed having at its edges means for securing the same and holding it with a lateral tension and having also in fixed middle or central position tightly-fitting retaining or anchorage devices for the body for restraining the latter in central longitudinal position in the bed, and having also at the foot a flexible apron for the feet free of tension substantially as and for the purpose described.

JAMES M. I-IOOPER'.

Witnesses SOLON O. KEMON, PERRY,B. TURPIN. 

